One thing I really love about Cambodia is all the people I meet from different countries. I find out so much about their life and culture. Tonight we were invited to a Hangi by the lovely Hasseltine family. There house is right on the river front quite a way out of town. All the children had gathered in their house while the adults were across the road.
I could not go with out my facepaints! So amongst the bunnies and butterflies and tigers I got try out some cool Maori designs. It was so much fun! Katy one of the NZ teachers also joined in doing some of the arm tatoos.
Some non Maori designs just because I liked them.....
A Hangi is a Maori way of cooking. As I am not a Kiwi and would not want to misquote what a hangi is here is wikipedia.....
Hāngi (pronounced
[ˈhaːŋi]) is a traditional
New Zealand Māori method of
cooking food using heated rocks buried in a
pit oven still used for special occasions.
To "lay a hāngi" or "put down a hāngi" involves digging a
pit in the ground, heating
stones in the pit with a large fire, placing baskets of
food on top of the stones, and
covering everything with earth for several hours before uncovering (or
lifting) the hāngi.
There are many variations and details that can be altered. Hāngi "experts" have developed and improved methods that often, like the stones themselves, have been handed down for generations. Another name sometimes used is
umu, for instance the umu tī, used in the
South Island to cook Cabbage trees
(Cordyline australis).
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| Removing the earth |
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| Taking off the cloth covering |
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| Lifting the Hangi |
So the meat looked like it was wrapped in foil withthe veg piled on top. The meat and veg all cook together very slowly for nearly the whole day. It was absolutely delicious. We had lamb, pork and chicken plus squash, sweet potatoes and potatoes. The meat was so tender it fell off the bone and the veg had a lovely meaty smokey flavour.
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| Roast Potatoes from Hangi |
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| Phoebe with her friend |
I had to take this picture of a VERY happy little girl. She had spent the whole time running around and scrabbling in the dirt. In fact she looked like she had crawled through the hangi pit!
